Bristle brush



March 17, 1970 R. A. coHN ETAL BRISTLE BRUSH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct. 16. 1967 IN VENTORS A COMM ROBERT BY 6A NDMED ELL [5 m 5% RI R. A. COHN ETAL BRISTLE BRUSH March 17, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct. 16, 1967 r FIG. 2A

FIG.

1N VENTORS 208527 A.

SAWFOPD A Tim/l!!! United States Patent 3,500,491 BRISTLE BRUSH Robert A. Cohn, 38-54 13th St., Long Island City,

N.Y. 11101, and Sanford Ellis, 123 Drisler Ave., White Plains, NY. 10707 Original application Oct. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 680,289.

Divided and this application Sept. 13, 1968, Ser.

Int. Cl. A46b 3/16, 9/02 US. Cl. 15-159 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A low cost bristle brush for manufacturing in mass production which has intermediate portions of monofilaments, as supplied from a continuous source, embedded in the 'body of the brush, both distal ends of such monofilaments extending in rows.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to bristle brushes and particularly to an improved brush having monofilament bristles and the apparatus and process for producing same. This application is a division of copending Ser. No. 680,289, filed Oct. 16, 1967.

An object of the invention is to provide a low cost brush for mass production which employs a plurality of monofilaments as supplied in continuous form, such brush being simpler and cheaper to manufacture than prior art brushes. Generally, the prior art burshes employ natural bristles, monofilaments of short lengths having one end glued in the brush body and/or short length monofilaments which are automatically cut from continuous monofilaments prior to insertion into a brush handle.

According to the invention there is provided a bristle brush having components which are fastened together, as for instance by welding or by gluing, such components comprising a plurality of members disposed one within another and a plurality of monofilaments each having an intermediate portion along a continuous juxtapositioned surface of two adjacent component members extending from one surface portion of the brush to anothersurface portion of the brush the distal ends of each monofilament extending from such surface portions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, in which like referencenumbers designate like components in the several views;

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a machine for manufacturing bristle brushes according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a brush as manufactured by the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a plan view of the brush of FIG. 2 along surface 2A-2A'; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of one of the body components of the brush of FIGS. 2 and 2A.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, an endless conveyor belt 10, either intermittently or continuously moved by conventional mecha- Patented Mar. 17, 1970 1611, are fixed to the belt 10, for removably securing a plurality of brush handles 18, 18a, 18b 1811 to the moving belt 10.

Referring also to FIGS. 2 and 2A, 'brush handle 18 has a cavity 20 for receiving a member 22 having a projecting portion 24 which has a profile to closely interfit with the profile of cavity 20. Member 22 has a plurality of grooves or apertures 26, 26', etc. opening to the continuous surface between the juxtapositioned surfaces of 18 and 22 to form a plurality of channels or passages which are continuous from one edge position 23 on the left side of the brush, through the body of brush (between 18 and 22) and to a similar edge position 23' on the right side of the brush.

As shown in FIG. 1, a first plurality of spaced monofilaments 40, 40a, 40b, etc., are continuously supplied by a source 42. Optionally, the elements 40 40a, 40b, etc. may each be a group of thinner monofilaments. The spaced elements 40, 40a, 40b, etc. are passed around a roller 43 and then over the edges 14 and 14a of supports 12 and 12a. 4

Operations will now be described at Stations I, II, IV, V and VI of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, which discloses one embodiment for manufacturing a six row brush. A serial supply of members 22 (by mechanism not shown) is provided at Station I above the spaced monofilaments 40, 40a, 40b, etc. When a brush handle 18 arrives at Station I, member 22 is moved by a horn element 44 of an ultrasonic welder (not shown) so that the projecting portion 24 is inserted into the cavity 20 of brush handle 18. During such movement, the plurality of monofilaments 40, 40a, 40b, etc. are depressed into the brush handle and the grooves 26, 26, 26", etc. are preferably flared at their lower positions 27, 27', 27" as shown in FIG. 3 to promote a desired uniform distribution of filaments in the brush. The spacing and size of the monofilaments together with the spacing and size of the grooves or aperatures 26, 26', etc. are selected so that all contacting portions of the monofilaments 40, 40', etc. brush handle18 and member 22 closely fit together. Thereafter, the horn element 44 of the ultrasonic welder is energized for welding together handle 18, element 22 and the monofilaments 40, 40a, etc. therebetween.

At a selected time interval after the horn 44 moves 22 to its final position, and approximately while the welding operation is in progress, a knife blade 45 is moved downwardly to engage the edge of the support thereunder (edge 14a of support 12a in FIG. 1) for cutting off the righthand side of plurality monofilaments 40, 40a, etc. to form the righthand edge group of bristles 25.

At a selected later time, the brush handle moves to Station II where it assumes position 18a. Support 12 takes the position of 12a while support 12n and handle 18n assume the positions 12 and 18 respectively. Thereafter, while handle 18n another element 22 and filaments 40, 4011, etc. are being Welded at Station I, or at a selected time later, knife blade 45 engages the edge of support 12 to cut ofi the right end of the filaments extending from hancavity 3 die 18n. Simultaneously with such single motionof knife blade 45 against edge 14 (inthe position of 14a in FIG. 1), the left ends of the monofilaments 40, 40a, etc. extending from handle 18 are also cut to produce the left edge row of bristles 27, such partially completed brush being shown as 18bin 'FIG. 1.

Referring back to FIGS. 2 and 2A, element 22 has a cavity 28 (which is similar to, but different in siz .e than cavity 20 in handle 18) for receiving the projecting portion 29 (similar to but different in size than 24) of an element 30 which interfits into the cavity 28 of 22. Element 30 has a plurality of grooves or apertures 32, 32'. 32", etc. opening to the continuous surface between the juxtapositioned surfaces of 22 and 30 to form a plurality of channels or passages which are continuous from one intermediate position 31 on the left side of the brush, through the body of the brush, and to a similar intermediate position 31' on the right side of the brush.

Element 30 has a cavity (similar to but different in size than cavity 28) for receiving a projecting portion 34 of a closing element 35, such closing member having continuous grooves or channels 36, 36', 36", etc. which are similar to 32, 32, etc. and 26, 26', etc. for forming a plurality of channels or passages which are continuous from one center position 37 on the left side of the brush to the center'position 37' on the right side of the brush.

As hereinbefore described, the partially completed brush shown in FIG. 1 in position 18b has incorporated therein only the bristles in the pair of outside rows defined by the welding together of member 18 and 22. To complete the brush, a plurality of monofilaments of the correct length has to be welded in passages 32, 32', etc. and 36, 36', etc. to form intermediate and center pairs of bristle rows, respectively, and elements 35 and 30 have to be welded together and to element 24 (which is welded to handle member 18).

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1, at another position along the machine, there is provided another source 142 of a plurality of monofilaments 140, 140a, 140b, etc. passing over a roller 143 and over the edges 14b, 140 of supports 12, 120 between which there is disposed another horn 144 of an ultrasonic welder (not shown) and mechanism (not shown) for serially inserting elements 30, to-

gether with monofilaments 140, 140d, 140b, etc., into the 28 of element 22 prior to the welding operation by horn 144. Another knife blade 145 coacts with whichever support 12 is thereunder for cutting off the right and left ends of the monofilaments 140, 140a, 140b, etc. at Stations III and IV in the similar manner that monofilaments 40, 40a, 40b etc. were cut by knife blade 45 at Stations I and II.

In similar manner, another plurality of monofilaments 240, 240a, 240b, etc. from another continuous source 242 are provided further along the machine for the center pairs of rows of bristles passing through passages 36, 36', 36", etc. Assuming the completed brush is to have three pairs of bristle rows, the closure element 35 is inserted into cavity 33 of 30 by an ultrasonic horn 244,"the vertical movement of 35 depressing the plurality of filaments 240, 240a, 240b, etc. into the brush at Station V. Cutting the left and right ends of such filaments is accomplished by a knife 245 at Stations V and VI (as knives 45 and 145 function at Stations I and II) to complete the manufacturing of the six row brush according to this invention.

As mentioned hereinbefore, conveyor belt by mechanism 11 can be either intermittently moved in Stations I, III and V or continuously moved through Stations I, III and V. If 10 is continuously moved, horns 44, 144 and 244 are arranged to bemoved by conventional mechanisms 13, 113, 213 from positions A to B, A to B and A" to B in synchronism with the movement of belt 10 so that the welding and solidification of the melted parts can take place over a selected period of time. Thereafter, horns 44, 144, 244 are rapidly returned by the same conventional mechanisms 13, 113 and 213. If the 4 belt 10 is intermittently moved, the brush handles at Stations I, III and IV will be held stationary for a selected time while the welding operations are performed by 44, 144 and 244 and, thereafter, while the welded parts are solidifying. While such solidifying time is normally small, it can be shortened by optional cooling means (not shown) such as air blasts, water bath, etc.

Preferably, the brush components 18, 22, 30 and 35 are moulded plastic parts of thermoplastic materials, such as polystyrene of the high impact type and thermoplastic materials available under the trademarks Lustran of the Monsanto Company, Styron of the Dow Chemical Company, and -Dylene of the Koppers Company, Inc. The monofilaments preferably are synthetic thermoplastic filaments, such as nylon, polyester, polypropylene, styrene, Dacron (trademark of the Du Pont Company), etc. or natural fibres such as wool or cotton. However, other materials, such as metal or metallic coated substances may be used. Also, other welding apparatus may be substituted for the ultrasonic welder.

Instead of .welding together the components and the monofilaments of the novel brush described hereinabove, such elements can be fastened together by other known means, such as by gluing and using adhesives and solvents. For instance, when the components are made of plastic materials such as identified in the immediately above paragraph, such components can be fastened together by glues, adhesives, or solvents, such as methyl-ethyl-ketone or toluol. When the components are made of metallic materials such as identified in the immediately above paragraph, such metallic components can be fastened together by glues or adhesives such as the epoxy types.

What we claim is:

1. bristle brush comprising, fastened together, a plurality of component members disposed one within another and a plurality of monofilaments each having an intermediate portion along a continuous juxtapositioned surface portion of the brush to another surface portion of the brush, the'distal ends of each monofilament extending from said surface portions and wherein the projecting distal ends of the monofilaments are arranged in rows, the monofilaments from outer and inner rows of one portion of said brush extending to outer and inner rows, respectively, of another portion of said brush.

2. A brush according to claim 1 wherein said component members and said plurality of monofilaments are welded together.

3. A brush according to claim 1 wherein said members and said monofilaments are synthetic thermoplastic materials.

4. A brush according to claim 1 wherein the cavity portion of said brush, said members and said monofilaments are metallic materials.

5. A brush which comprises a plurality of welded together segments and spaced monofilaments, adjacent segments having cavities and projections which interfit together to define a plurality of spaced surfaces which are continuous between an external surface of the brush, each monofilament having both its distal ends projecting from the external surface of the brush and being continuous therebetween along one of said continuous spaced surfaces and wherein the projecting distal ends of the monofilaments are arranged in rows, the monofilaments from outer and inner rows of one portion of said brush extending to outer and inner rows, respectively, of another portion of said brush.

6. A brush according to claim 5 wherein said segments and said monofilaments are synthetic thermoplastic materials.

7. A brush according to claim 5 wherein the cavity portion of said brush, said members and said monofilaments are metallic materials.

8. A brush according to claim 1 wherein said members and said plurality of monofilaments are glued together.

9. A brush according to claim 5 wherein said com- 5 6 ponent members and said plurality of monofilaments are 3,307,213 3/1967 Schofield 15179 glued together. 3,352,604 11/1967 Melcher 300-21 XR References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 21,811 1909 Great Britain.

953,201 3/1910 Harn 15-195 XR 5 3 2 3/ 1 Sp ese 15-204 PETER FELDMAN, Primary Examiner 2,294,480 9/ 1942 Rohweder 61: a1. 30021 XR 2,974,932 3/1961 Xenis .Q 15197 XR US. Cl. X.R. 3,071,795 1/1963 Hartz et a1. 15181 XR 15195, 204

3,256,545 6/1966 Lewis et al. 15 159 

